Page 2 - Inside Scharf News Today

To the north. >> she had to have been propelled from that point. >> jody had to have been thrown or pushed to her death, he said, and likely from another spot entirely on those cliffs. he wasnt the only expert who saw it that way. >> the head and chest injuries are not consistent with someone that tumbled down the cliff face. >> dr. marianne clayton was the bergen county medical examiner who first ruled the circumstances of jodys death could not be determined. now, on second look, she said, the ...

He put it in the bag with the picnic items. it was just convenient. it was a convenient excuse for having that hammer. >> detectives asked if they could check out the drawer and the rest of stephens house that night. he agreed. but as it turned out, something potentially far more telling was happening away from the action. >> and i said, look, mr. scharf, im your local police department. >> ted aaronburg was a local officer told to keep an eye on stephen scharf that night as detectives combed th...

>> my mom was driving and my dad just hitting her with the bottom of his fist. and i was, like, begging him to stop doing it. >> he also remembered the last day of his mothers life. he was 10 and said his mother told his father that she didnt want to go out with him alone. >> she said, if i wanted to go out with you, i wouldnt be divorcing you. >> but where was the proof that stephen had planned to kill jody that night? well, there was the hammer in the picnic bag, but there was also testimony f...

Each other, stephen said, to kiss and make up. >> and the spot where they went is not a spot youd go to reconcile with anybody. >> detectives werent buying the story for another reason. they had found something suspicious inside scharfs car, a bag filled with items youd expect for a romantic picnic and one you would not, a hammer. >> oh, yeah, your wine, cheese, crackers, opener, claw hammer. i mean, if red flags are going up, they reached the top of the pole at that point. >> did you think that...

Misinterpreted what his client said in his home just hours later. >> my client never said this wasnt an accident. >> and as for that hammer police thought was a weapon? >> the hammer was examined by the forensic experts. there was nothing found on that hammer. >> and the defense attorney pressed the medical examiner on her flip-flop, undetermined manner of death in 93, now it was a homicide? really? >> are you trying to say that youre learning from your mistakes on this case? >> you may call the...

Other women. >> he told us he had -- they had an open marriage, they were seeing different people. he actually said he had been with like 50 to 60 women. >> she was okay with it according to him. >> according to him, yes. >> but he told detectives he and jody had become unhappy with their free love life-style, so they came to this romantic, if treacherous spot, to recommit to each other, stephen said, to kiss and make up. >> the spot where they went is not a spot where you would go to reconcile ...

>> and if police were so suspicious of his client two nights later, the defense said, why didnt they videotape their interview with him. that way, jurors could have judged stephen scharfs supposedly odd demeanor for themselves. >> why didnt you? >> not an interrogation. he wasnt in custody. i dont know. >> the defense attorney also argued that police misinterpreted what his client said in his home just hours later. >> my client never said this wasnt an accident. >> and as for that hammer police ...

Pole at that point. >> did you think that might be a murder weapon? >> i thought that might have been plan a. he didnt use it, so he went to plan b. >> which linum believed was to push or throw jody off that cliff. so detectives asked stephen scharf the obvious. what was a hammer doing in that picnic bag? >> he told us he fixed a drawer in his kitchen with the hammer and he just forgot to put it back in the garage. he put it in the bag with the picnic items. it was a convenient excuse for having...

Physical evidence to the less tangible clues. he quickly learned from jodys friends that this was a couple not in love but in crisis. the subject wasnt wine and roses on those cliffs. it was divorce. >> she was going to go through with it, yes. absolutely. >> jodys long-time friend told detectives that jody had been determined to take her 10-year-old son jonathan and leave her husband. she was convinced stephen had been cheating on her. >> she couldnt prove anything, but women called the house. ...

>> she got coffee thrown at her. >> now, in court, he had even more to tell about his childhood, like the afternoon he sat cowering in the back seat of a car, watching his mother suffer. >> my mom was driving, and my dad was hitting her with the bottom of his fist. and i was just like begging him to stop doing it. >> he also remembered the last day of his mothers life. he was 10. and said his mother told his father that she didnt want to go out with him alone. >> she said, if i wanted to go out ...